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DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY DP WORLD

November 27, 2010

Rory McIlroy

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Third Round 66. 7-Under. 209 Total.

Q. First thing's first, got to ask you about the eagle putt on the 18th.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it could have went either one of two ways. It catches the other side of the slope and it's 15, 20 feet left of the hole; and it caught the wrong side of it and nearly went in the water.
So after that, I'm happy to get away with a par. A little disappointed. I hit two great shots into the green. A five was as good as it could have gone.

Q. Your best round of the week obviously. What improved in your play today?
RORY McILROY: My iron play improved. I gave myself a lot of chances. I was hitting a lot of greens but just not getting it close enough, and today, I birdied a few of the par 3s and played really well. So just kept giving myself chances and held a few putts, as well, which is nice.

Q. You're making some changes to your swing, how are those coming along?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'm still working on them on the range and trying to forget about it on the golf course. I don't want too many thoughts out there, and trying to play golf and get the ball around the courses, as well as trying to do a few things with my swing.
But it's coming along okay. It's still not where I wanted to be but it's definitely better than where it was, say, a month ago.

Q. You're not going to join the PGA Tour again next year and obviously going to play a more limited schedule, 22 tournaments down from about 30; what is your thinking behind that?
RORY McILROY: I just felt sometimes I got to tournaments this year and wasn't prepared for them. Wasn't ready to play and give it 100 per cent. Definitely want to try and do that next year. Want to try to get to the events, feel as if I'm ready to go out and contend to win, and sometimes I turned up to tournaments this year and didn't really feel like that.

Q. Clearly could have been a 64 for a while, 6-under after 12, but your own reflections.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was -- I didn't get off to a start like I did the first two days. I got off to a slower start, which might have been a good thing. I was 3-under through three yesterday, and I think I got 3-under through eight today, I think it was.
So I was sort of pacing myself a bit and made a few birdies around the turn which was nice. Just, you know, the shots that I kept hitting to sort of 10 and 12 feet, I was able to hole those putts, which I didn't do the first two days.

Q. You have made some swing changes, we saw them at The Egyptian Open, not working and beginning to work and clearly they are bedding in more and more; did you feel you had the MoJo back today?
RORY McILROY: I did. I hit a great shot into 13, as well, with a 7-iron from 190, and that's another good thing. I'm getting my distance back. I'm hitting the ball quite a long way, and still -- I'm still thinking about what I'm trying to do. It's becoming more natural.

Q. You had a putt for a 64 on the final green, and obviously it was a strange circumstance, what happened after that. It was a long putt and it was dangerous, wasn't it?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, as I said, it could have went one of two ways. It was either if I caught the slope too far down it was going to go 15, 20 feet left of the hole, and I didn't even think about catching it. I didn't even think I could miss it right, and almost ends up putting it into the water.
Nice to get up-and-down for the par in the end. But I hit two great shots into 18, which was really pleasing. The 5-wood I've hit in there was one of the best shots I've hit all week.

Q. Your Quail Hollow weekend was 66-62. You might require that tomorrow.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, got off to the good start; shot the 66 today. Yeah, we'll see what happens. If I can hit it tomorrow like I hit it today, I'll have plenty of chances out there to make some birdies.

End of FastScripts

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